Dear Reader, We decided to do one more email in the Divine Nature of Women series on Motherhood seeing as Mother’s Day is coming up soon. This email is definitely for moms BUT if you’re not a mom, this email is still for you! This email is for women especially, but I think even men will get something out of it. At least, that’s my hope, so stick with me.  Last week, I signed out the email with my name, which isn’t something I normally do in our newsletters, but there’d been a few people replying to ask who was writing the educational emails for Cedar Fort, so I decid ..read more

Dear Reader, To wrap up the Divine Nature of Women series, we thought it would be great to get some thoughts on Women of the Scriptures from other women than just me. Haha!    We contacted a few women and here’s what they had to say about different women from the scriptures and what they’ve learned from them:   Esther "I've always admired the way that Esther went against the social norm and did what she needed to do to stand firm in her faith. She showed me growing up what it means to choose God over all worldly things and I ..read more

Dear Reader, This is going to be a quick one because in our Blessings of Being a Woman in the Latter-Days' email, we already touched on this topic with our lists of Influencers, Podcasters, and Authors. Still we thought it’d be fun to list just a few more famous LDS women. First, it’s important to know that the church doesn’t have a lot to say about “fame” per se, but they do have a lot to say about talents.    Here’s a quote from Church website, Lesson 27: Developing Our Talents: “We are each blessed with talents and abilities and with opportunities to develop them. Our He ..read more

Dear Reader, How long has the church considered the education of women important?  Well, if you were to ask me, I’d say forever. (No, I’m not going to add the Sandlot “For-Ev-Er gif this week. Haha!) In Abraham 3:22 it says, “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones.”  This statement doesn’t use words like “beings,” “spirits,” or “entities,” though all those words would be correct. Instead, it uses the word “intelligences.”  Of all the words Abraham cou ..read more

Dear Reader, So far, in our Divine Nature of Women series, we’ve talked about the struggle with feeling unworthy and given examples of when God comes to women. This week, we’re jumping into the power of a converted woman. Why? Because it’s the natural progression of a woman learning to be confident in herself, trusting in God, and knowing that He’ll always be there for her.  When a woman is converted to the gospel through these means, she becomes a powerful thing to behold.  Woman at the Well  If you recall in our last two emails, the Woman at the Well went there in the heat ..read more

Dear Reader,   One of my uncles spent the majority of his life in another church. A few years before he died, he and his wife decided they wanted me to come and visit them for a week, two years in a row. He was not an uncle I’d known particularly well, so that time is really special to me.    While visiting them, I attended church with him and his wife, and afterwards, my uncle asked me what top three things about the LDS Church did I love so much, and pulled out a pen and notepad to take notes.    My uncle's church was very different than ours. In appearance, it had m ..read more

Dear Reader, If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen this post we put up a couple weeks ago. It was called God Comes to Women and was accompanied by this image:     Here’s what it said: Repost THIS HIT ME HARD. Have you ever noticed how in the scriptures men are always going up into the mountains to commune with the Lord? Yet in the scriptures we hardly ever hear of women going to the mountains. But we know why — right? Because the women were too busy keeping life going; they couldn’t abandon babies, meals, homes, fires ..read more

Dear Reader, Did you know that 75% of women executives feel imposter syndrome? Or that 7 in 10 girls feel they don’t measure up? And that, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, close to 80% of women have issues with self-confidence and self-advocacy? Anyone else think those numbers are staggering? We certainly do. Especially when you consider the following: Girls’ brains generally mature two years earlier than boys.  The highest IQ ever recorded belonged to a woman: Marilyn vos Savant at an IQ of 228. Women earn more than 60% of all college degrees.  Many of the wor ..read more

  Madison had a deep, albeit somewhat untraditional, faith in God. He complemented that faith in God with an abiding faith in the country he did so much to help found and a deep faith in and commitment to family and friendship. Written by Rodney K. Smith, author of James Madison the Father of Religious Liberty. In today’s world, such values have lost some of their luster in some sectors of the population, particularly in academic circles. In all respects, however, Madison remains an example of the kind of leader and public servant who was seemingly called to fulfill a central role in sec ..read more

But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.1 Written by Lynda Cherry, author of The Feasts and Festivals of the Messiah. President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, “There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter.”2  Remarkably, what we celebrate at each of these events—the birth, atonement, death, and resurrection of the Savior—actually occurred at Passover. Elder Bruce D. Porter, of the Seventy, sai ..read more